396 
S44 
opv 1 



RURAL LIFE IN THE LOWER 

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 

ABOUT 1803 



BY 
WILLIAM O. SCR0GG8 

Professor of Economics and Sociology in 
The Louisiana State University 



Rei'rinted from the Proceedings of the 

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL 

ASSOCIATION, Volume VIII 






s 



RURAL LIFE IN THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VAL- 
LEY ABOUT 1803 



RURAL LIFE IN THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VAL- 
LEY ABOUT 1803 

By "WILLL4.M 0. SCROGGS 

Early in the nineteenth century, when it became 
known that Napoleon had regained the province of Louis- 
iana from Spain and had determined to revive the French 
colonial empire in the Western World, the newly restored 
territory became an object of lively interest to the people 
of France. As a result, soon after the treaty of retro- 
cession became known a number of French travelers 
came to Louisiana to study the people and the natural 
resources, and to record the results of their observations 
for the enlightenment of their countrymen in Europe. 
Through the eyes of these travelers we may now get a 
more or less accurate view of the civilization of the lower 
Mississippi Valley in the last hours of its domination by 
European influences and just before the process of its 
Americanization had begun. The unique social life of 
the city of New Orleans at this time has already been 
portrayed by various writers,^ and at times in consider- 
able detail; but for some reason the manners and cus- 
toms of the people dwelling outside the limits of this 
municipality, though equally distinctive and interesting, 
have received hardly a passing glance from the historian. 
From such statistics as we have it appears that in 1803 
the population of New Orleans was about one-fifth of the 
total number of inhabitants then dwelling on the Mis- 
sissippi and its tributaries below the settlements at 
Natchez. Any description, therefore, of the civilization 

1 See George W. Cable, The Creoles of Louisiana, 135-140 ; John B. 
McMaeter, History of the People of the United States, III, 15 ff. 



KURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 263 

of the lower Valley, which overlooks the rural population, 
is necessarily incomplete. It is for the purpose of filling 
this hiatus that this paper has been prepared. 

In 1803 there were twenty distinct zones of rural set- 
tlements within the limits of the present state of Louis- 
iana. Two of these districts — Balize, or the Lower 
Coast, and St. Bernard, or Terre aux Boeuf s — lay be- 
low the city of New Orleans. The first of these, with a 
population of about 2,500, of whom one-half were slaves, 
included all the settlements below the city on both banks 
of the river. The St. Bernard district consisted of set- 
tlements along the bayou for which it was named, extend- 
ing eastward from English Turn toward the Gulf coast. 
Its inhabitants, estimated at about 600, consisted for the 
most part of colonists from the Canary Islands. Between 
New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain lay a third district, 
designated as Bayou St. John, in which there were be- 
tween four and five hundred inhabitants. 

Leaving New Orleans and proceeding up the river, 
the traveler would first pass through the section known 
as the Upper Coast, or Chapitoulas, which lay along both 
banks for a distance of fifteen miles. The population of 
this region then consisted mainly of slaves, whose mas- 
ters dwelt in the city. Above the Upper Coast, for about 
ten miles on both banks, lay the so-called First German 
Coast (sometimes termed the St. Charles Coast) and 
adjoining this and extending fifteen miles further up the 
river lay the Second German Coast (or Coast of St. 
John the Baptist).^ The earliest settlers in these two 
districts were Germans who had migrated to America 
at the instigation of John Law and had established them- 
selves at first upon the banks of the Arkansas River, but 
after Law's downfall they abandoned their holdings 
there and had secured permission to settle on the lower 

2 These and other districts in southern Louisiana were sometimes 
designated by the ecclesiastical names that had been bestowed on church 
parishes within their limits. 



264 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

Mississippi just above New Orleans. The Germans were 
very industrious and soon came to play the role of pur- 
veyors to the city, furnishing the urban population with 
vegetables, fruits, wild fowl, and fish. It was their cus- 
tom every Friday evening to load their pirogues with 
their produce and float with the current to the city, where 
on Saturdays they would hold a market along the river 
front. ^ There was also a large French element among 
the inhabitants of the German Coasts, but the Germans 
showed a tendency to resist assimilation. They pre- 
served their language and customs, and though having 
none of the open and affable disposition of the French, 
they are described as being very honest and kind and 
hospitable to strangers. They owned few slaves, did 
their own field work, and lived comfortably without ac- 
quiring great wealth.* The two German Coasts in 1803 
contained about 5,000 inhabitants. 

Above the German Coasts were two districts known 
as the First and Second Acadian Coasts, each of which 
extended along both banks of the river for a distance of 
about eighteen miles.^ The first of these comprised a 
population in 1803 of about 2,500 and the second a popu- 
lation of about 1,200. They derived the name Acadian 
from their first settlers, refugees from the province of 
Acadia, or Nova Scotia, who after their expulsion from 
Canada in 1755 eventually found their way to their com- 
patriots in Louisiana. After settling in this territory 
they gradually spread to the neighboring bayous, and 
today their descendants are found in every part of south- 
em and central Louisiana. 

Above the Second Acadian Coast, as far north as the 

3 N. Bossu, Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, 38. 

4 C. C. Robin, Voyages dans I'lnterieur de la Louisiane, II, 239; Per- 
rin du Lac, Travels Through the Two Louisianas, 86. 

5 The first Acadian Coast was also designated as Catahanose or Caba- 
hanoce, and the second Acadian Coast as Lafourche de Chetimachas. 



KURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 265 

Iberville River, was the district of Iberville, which took 
its name from the stream. Strictly speaking, the Iber- 
ville was not a river, but merely a spillway for the Mis- 
sissippi at high water. Its bed was dry for a good part 
of the year, but when the Mississippi rose and poured its 
waters into this depression the Iberville became a con- 
siderable stream and helped to form the Island of New 
Orleans, so frequently mentioned in the diplomatic corre- 
spondence of this period. The Iberville constituted part 
of the boundary between Louisiana and West Florida. 
The district of Iberville contained in 1797 a population 
of 1,110, of whom 314 were slaves. Farther east, near 
the junction of the Iberville and Amite rivers, lay the 
small Spanish settlement of Galveztown, comprising 
some 250 people.^ This village was destined soon to be 
almost entirely abandoned, as its Spanish population, on 
hearing of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, 
moved in a body off the Island of New Orleans and took 
up lands in the vicinity of the Spanish fort at Baton 
Rouge, hoping thus to remain under the flag of their 
mother country. The area upon which they settled now 
lies within the limits of the city of Baton Rouge, and to 
this day is designated as '^ Spanish Town." 

The district above the Iberville on the east bank and 
extending to the American boundary line was designated 
under the Spanish regime as "the government of Baton 
Rouge." On the first bluffs of the Mississippi was a 
small fort garrisoned by Spanish soldiers, and in the 
vicinity was a sparse population of various nationalities, 
French, Spanish, and Anglo-American. Included within 
this jurisdiction were the settlements of Thompson's 
Creek and Bayou Sara. Here for the first time the set- 
tlements on the east of the river extended a considerable 

6 James A. Eobertson, in his Louisiana under the Rule of Spain, 
France, and the United States, 1785-1807, I, 307, makes the amusing error 
of confusing this settlement with Galveston, Texas. 



266 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY fflSTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

distance back from the banks. In this section in 1803 
cotton plantations were springing up rapidly/ 

Above the Iberville district on the west bank of the 
Mississippi was the district of Pointe Coupee, or False 
Eiver. This section was then regarded as one of the 
wealthiest in the province.* Its upper portion, however, 
appears to have been inhabited by the poorest type of 
Acadians.^ The fact that the slaves in Pointe Coupee 
were three times as numerous as the whites would indi- 
cate the existence of a planter aristocracy, even if we did 
not have the testimony of travelers to this effect. The 
traveler found in Pointe Coupee better manners, more 
dignity and display, more pleasure-seeking, and more 
rustling of finery, than in the other river settlements. A 
certain exclusiveness, in marked contrast to the pioneer 
democracy of other sections, was noted.^° The planter 
who owned a hundred negroes disdained to associate, on 
equal terms, with the man who had only fifty, and the 
latter in turn held himself above the man who owned still 
less. Nevertheless, pride did not interfere with hospi- 
tality. There was no tavern in the district, for the hos- 
pitality of the people made such an establishment unnec- 
essary. The bounty and variety upon his host's table 
astonished the traveler, who expected much less in such a 
remote community. Spacious and well-constructed 
dwellings, fine gardens, and large enclosures gave this 
region an air of prosperity not found in the settlements 
farther down the river. As the negroes far outnumbered 
the French — there being over 1,600 slaves in 1791 and 
only 547 whites — the latter were accustomed to keep a 
close watch on the cabins and to ride the patrol. 

7 Memoires sur la Louisiane, par M. Perrin du Lac, 85 ; Berquin-Du- 
vallon, Travels in Louisiana and in Florida in the Year J802, Translated 
from the French by John Davis, 166; Eobin, op. cit., II, 242. 

8 Henry M. Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, 178. 
» Perrin du Lac, op. cit., 86. 

io"L'orgueil isole chacun de ses voisins. " Eobin, op. cit., II, 242. 



RURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 267 

The planters of Pointe Coupee carried on consider- 
able trade with the Americans on the other side of the 
river. From them they purchased practically everything 
they needed, including slaves, which they usually ob- 
tained on long-term credit. The traders took as payment 
the produce of the plantations, especially indigo, peltry, 
bear's oil, salted meat, and cattle. Peddlers, known as 
** coasters," also came up the river by boat from New 
Orleans, their pirogues loaded with sugar, coffee, tafia, 
crockery, muslins, woolens, handkerchiefs, and linens. 
Their wares were of mediocre quality but were offered 
at reasonable prices on account of the competition be- 
tween the numerous traders. The boatmen bartered 
their goods for anything that they could sell in the city, 
such as hides, tallow, meal, corn, rice, poultry, and eggs, 
and stealthily traded with the slaves as well as with the 
masters. The latter constantly complained that their 
slaves stole whatever they could get and exchanged it 
with the boatmen for things to eat, drink, or wear. The 
favored slaves, however, were allowed to have some com 
and pigs of their own, and were thus able to trade on 
their own account. In addition to the coasters, there 
were the land peddlers with horse carts or with packs on 
their backs, carrying a varied assortment of merchan- 
dise and trinkets. In the remote rural settlements the 
traders performed a real service by bringing goods from 
the city to the door of the habitant and affording him 
some sort of a market for his produce. ^^ 

On the right bank of the river there were very few 
settlers between Pointe Coupee and the mouth of the 
Arkansas, as the intervening area was subject to serious 
inundations. West of the Mississippi, however, numer- 
ous settlements had sprung up along the other rivers and 
the more important bayous. Here the inhabitants were 
of quite a different type from those dwelling upon the 

11 Ibid., II, 242-254. 



268 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

banks of the Father of Waters. The settlements were 
separated by vast tracts of wilderness, and the streams 
furnished the only means of communication. Small Aca- 
dian farmers, known along the coast as petits habitants y 
settled thickly along Bayou Lafourche.^^ This district 
was known as Valenzuela de la Fourche, and in 1803 it 
contained about 2,800 inhabitants, of whom less than 400 
were slaves. In this respect the settlements west of the 
Mississippi showed a marked contrast to those along its 
banks. The total numbers of whites, and blacks in the 
river settlements were approximately equal, while in all 
the western communities, except Natchitoches, the ne- 
groes were greatly outnumbered by the whites. Bayou 
Lafourche was lined with farms, only one deep, along its 
banks for a distance of forty miles, and in 1803 cotton 
was rapidly becoming the staple crop. 

Along the Bayous Teche and Vermilion another zone 
of settlements sprang up. This region was called the 
Attakapas country, after the tribe of aborigines who had 
once occupied it. Indian traders frequented this district 
as early as 1750, and about two decades later the pro- 
vincial authorities colonized the country with newly ar- 
rived Acadian refugees. The inhabitants of the Attaka- 
pas country numbered, according to the census of 1803, 
3,746, of whom 2,270 were whites, 1,266 were slaves and 
210 were free persons of color. Cattle-raising was the 
chief industry. The animals were left largely to them- 
selves and were allowed to stray in the woods or on the 
prairies, where they multiplied rapidly but showed a 
tendency to degenerate. To this day the term ''Attaka- 
pas" is used in various parts of southern Louisiana to 
designate the scrub stock that roves in the woods and on 
the prairies. Very few of the Attakapas farmers knew 
the number of cattle they owned, and they usually made 
an effort to round them up and count them only at inter- 

12 Brackenridge, op. cit., 178. 



KURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 269 

vals of two or three years. Many cattle were lost every 
winter, when vegetation was sparse ; and forest fires also 
did much damage to live stock. The slaves were owned 
by the planter class, who constituted a very small part of 
the population. The small farmers worked their own 
fields, aided by their wives and children, and each house- 
hold was practically self-sustaining. The channel of the 
Teche was badly obstructed with the trunks of fallen 
trees, which rendered navigation difficult in periods of 
low water and made the exportation of the chief products 
of this region — cattle and hides — too expensive to be 
profitable. The Attakapas people were thus thrown 
largely upon their own resources, but the bounty of na- 
ture was conducive to a life of leisure. In spite of the 
large herds of cattle, milk and butter were rarely seen, 
and the Acadians would go for months without tasting 
either. This was attributed by Robin to ''the great in- 
dolence of the inhabitants." ''With us," he says, "men 
entice nature; but here nature entices men." ^^ 

Immediately north of the Attakapas country was the 
district known as Opelousas. It was somewhat more ele- 
vated, better drained and more salubrious than the At- 
takapas country, and the chief industry here was also 
cattle-raising. Some of the more prosperous inhabitants 
branded over a thousand head every year." A census 
enumeration of 1797 gives the population of the Opelou- 
sas district as 2,427, of whom 781 were slaves and 103 
were free persons of color. A considerable English- 
speaking element had already entered this region. About 
seventy-five miles northwest of the Opelousas settle- 
ments lay the district along the Red River known as Rap- 
ides with about 800 inhabitants, about one-fourth of 
whom was slaves. Adjoining this district on the east 
was the district of Avoyelles, with some 300 whites and 
100 slaves. 



isEobin, op. cit., 30-36. 

1* Brackenridge, op. cit., 297. 



270 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

The two Acadian coasts and the districts of La 
Fourche, Pointe Coupee, Attakapas, Opelousas, Rapides, 
and Avoyelles were settled, as already indicated, by Ca- 
nadian exiles, who formed an element of the population 
quite distinct from those who came directly from France. 
The descendants of the latter are today designated as 
Creoles, while the descendants of the former are still 
called Acadians, a term which in conversation is often 
corrupted into *'Cajan."^^ The Creoles, being the first 
arrivals, had the choice of the most desirable parts of the 
province and established their plantations within con- 
venient distance of the capital upon the clean, smooth 
banks of the Mississippi, whose waters were always open 
to navigation and gave them easy access to the city's 
markets. From New Orleans as far up the stream as the 
head of Bayou Lafourche (the present town of Donald- 
son ville) both banks of the river presented an imbroken 
chain of plantations fronting upon the waters and ex- 
tending backward for a depth of about one-half a French 
league. A similar chain of smaller farms was found 
upon the Lafourche for a distance of about forty miles. 
Between the Lafourche and Pointe Coupee the line of 
plantations ceased to be continuous, and there were tracts 
of unoccupied lands between them. In 1802 Berquin- 
Duvallon, in ascending the river for five leagues above 
New Orleans, counted seventy houses, forty being on the 
right bank and thirty on the left.^° As the traveler pro- 
ceeded up the river the rural dwellings, which just above 
the city were at times rather imposing, became smaller 
and less pretentious. The homes of the sugar planters 
were sometimes constructed of brick and flanked with 
columns; but as a rule the houses were built of heavy 
timbers, the interstices being filled with clay and the 
whole covered with whitewash. All houses had galleries, 

15 Many Acadians naturally object to the use of the corrupt form 
of the word. 

16 Berquin-Duvallon, op. cit., 127. 



EURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 271 

which were a necessity in the warm climate. The gal- 
leries were formed by an extension of the roof, which 
usually was supported by a row of columns, and they not 
only shaded the house from the rays of the sun but served 
in warm weather as a place for entertaining company 
and even for eating and sleeping. The cabins for the 
slaves were constructed of cypress logs, the spaces be- 
tween which were filled with clay mixed with Spanish 
moss to give it better binding qualities. Many houses 
were raised several feet from the ground, the better ones 
standing on brick pillars and the others on trunks of 
large trees. Raised houses were cooler, and were thought 
to have fewer mosquitoes than those which were not ele- 
vated. It was no uncommon thing among the Acadians 
to see a house in whose structure there was no iron or 
other metal. Not a nail had been used, and even the 
locks, bolts, and keys would be of wood. Carts were also 
made without iron, their parts being held together with 
wooden pegs and strips of rawhide. 

Very few of the settlers secured their lands by direct 
grant from the Crown. Most of the holdings were ob- 
tained by concessions from the officials of the province, 
given sometimes orally and sometimes in writing. It 
was said that during the Spanish regime any man who 
desired to obtain a tract of land had only to secure the 
verbal permission of the authorities to occupy it, and 
that the vague rights thus acquired might be transmitted 
by inheritance or even seized for debt.^^ As a result, 
clear titles could be shown to barely one-fourth of the 
lands. The river planters usually designated the size of 
their holdings as so many "arpents front" {arpents de 
face). An ''arpent front" was a tract of one arpent 
upon the river bank extending backward so as to include 
a total area of forty arpents. ^^ The plantations along the 

17 Memoires sur la Louisiane, 99-102. 

18 The arpent is still used to designate land areas in Louisiana. Its 
area is about .85 of the English acre. A plantation of "twenty arpents 



272 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY fflSTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

Mississippi ranged in size from five to twenty-five ar- 
pents front, or from 200 to 1,000 arpents.'^ The smaller 
holdings along the German and Acadian Coasts consisted 
of two or three arpents front.^° 

The Acadian country had a life of its own, and its in- 
habitants created varying impressions upon the French- 
men who visited the region just before the Louisiana 
Purchase. Robin calls them ''good people" {bonnes 
gens), who display none of the energy of the European 
in their labor because they feel no pressing need. On the 
other hand, Berquin-Duvallon, who is bitterly prejudiced, 
says that they are ' ' rude and sluggish, without ambition, 
living miserably on their sorry plantations, where they 
cultivate Indian corn, raise pigs, and get children. 
Around their houses one sees nothing but hogs, and be- 
fore their doors great rustic boys and big strapping girls, 
stiff as bars of iron, gaping for want of thought, or some- 
thing to do, at the stranger who is passing. ' ' ^^ Perrin 
du Lac says that "they seem to have remained in the 
same mediocrity in which they were when they first ar- 
rived in this colony. Their houses seem rather designed 
for the abode of animals than men; and their children, 
badly clothed, attract very little attention of their par- 
ents."" 

All these writers are in agreement concerning the 
almost universal illiteracy. As the Acadians were de- 
scendants of ignorant peasants from Normandy, Poitou, 
Brittany, Aunis, and Picardy, their innocence of book- 
lore should not be surprising. Each isolated community, 
too, without the assimilating influence of the school or 

front" would thus have an area of 800 arpents, or 680 acres, slightly more 
than a square mile. 

^^ An Account of Louisiana, Being an Abstract of Documents in the 
Offices of the Department of State and of the Treasury (Washington, 
1803). 

20 Kobin, op. cit., II, 240. 

21 Berquin-Duvallon, op. cit., 78. 

22 Perrin du Lac, op. cit., 86. 



RURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 273 

printing press, tended to develop a dialect of its own, so 
that even today we may hear in one village words and 
terms that are unintelligible to the people in another 
settlement only a few miles distant.^^ 

Though ignorant, and in the presence of strangers 
noncommunicative and diffident, the Acadians were noted 
for their simple hospitality and always offered refresh- 
ment to the visitor, who, we are told by one traveler, 
must needs be very hungry if he attempts to eat what 
they set before him. The staple article of food was In- 
dian com, which was treated in a variety of ways. It 
was ground under millstones or beaten in large wooden 
mortars into meal, and in this form was used to make the 
familiar corn bread and several kinds of mush and por- 
ridge. Broken into small grains and cooked with just 
enough water to keep it moist, it furnished a dish called 
petit gru (the forerunner of the modem ''grits"); in 
coarser grains and thoroughly boiled with a larger 
amount of water, it formed a favorite dish called saga- 
mite, which is still in common use among the Acadians 
and Creoles. For use on a journey corn biscuit were 
made, but were not highly esteemed. For this purpose 
farine froide (cold meal) was preferred. It consisted of 
parched com ground into meal, and could either be boiled 
in water or added to broth. Green com was also popular 
as an article of diet. Two crops of corn could be gath- 
ered in a single growing season, and its cultivation did 
not seriously interfere with the work upon other crops. 
Rice, beans, melons, and pumpkins were other common 
vegetables. Beef, salt pork, and poultry were produced 
on the farm, and fish and game were always to be had in 
abundance. 

Along the Red River there was still some trade with 
the Indians, who exchanged deerskins and bearskins and 

23 See Fortier, "The Acadians and Their Dialect," in Publications of 
the Modern Language Association of America, VI, No. 1. 



274 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

deer suet and bear's oil for shot, powder, blankets, and 
petty trinkets. Bear's oil was an article always in de- 
mand, and the fine heads of hair of the French women 
were sometimes attributed to its use. A pot of bear's 
oil was worth nearly as much as a bear's skin, and a 
single animal would furnish from four to twenty pots. 
The oil obtained from Indians and hunters could be sold 
in New Orleans at a profit of 100 per cent. 

The Acadian women were fond of showy dress, but 
their costumes, unhke those of the New Orleans ladies, 
were remarkable for their simplicity. In the summer a 
single petticoat was regarded as sufiicient apparel. The 
women went barefoot, not only to the fields but even to 
the dances, and the men, too, donned their shoes or moc- 
casins only on dress occasions. The chief form of 
amusement was dancing. With these simple folk this 
was a passion, and they would willingly go a day's jour- 
ney in order to attend a ball. The guests would arrive, 
some by boat, some by horse, and some afoot, and would 
take their seats on long wooden benches ranged against 
the walls. One or more violins furnished the music, and 
everybody danced, from grandparents to the youngest. 
Various kinds of refreshments might be served, ranging 
from gumbo to tafia diluted with water. In summer the 
dances were often held out of doors. The Acadian yeo- 
men were free from any suggestion of caste, and though 
their manners were innocent of urban conventionalities 
there was in them a trace of Gallic gallantry which made 
these people appear much less uncouth than the English- 
speaking pioneer. The Acadian could woo as strenu- 
ously as he danced, and his usual form of proposal was 
^'Faisons le chaudron ensemble.''^ (Let's boil the pot to- 
gether.) When the betrothal was announced, the neigh- 
bors would assemble and erect a log cabin for the young 
couple. 

Living upon a rich soil, with the woods at his back 



RURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 275 

door filled with game and the stream at his front door 
teeming with fish, the Acadian felt no incentive to severe 
industry. The woods furnished not only game but also 
building material and fuel ; the river or bayou offered not 
only fish but also an easy means of travel and a cheap 
method of transporting produce. His greatest handicap 
was his ignorance, a condition for which he himself was 
not responsible. 

North of the Acadian country were the three settle- 
ments of Natchitoches, Ouachita, and Concord. The last- 
named, on the Mississippi River opposite Natchez, con- 
sisted in 1803 of only a few insignificant huts of Indian 
traders. Natchitoches was the oldest settlement in Louis- 
iana, having been established by St. Denis in 1714 as an 
outpost against the Spaniards in Texas. At the time of 
the Louisiana Purchase it numbered over 1,400 inhab- 
itants, one-half of whom were slaves. The Ouachita dis- 
trict, comprising the northernmost settlements of any im- 
portance, contained in 1803 about 500 people, of whom 
fifty or sixty were slaves. The settlers lived chiefly on 
the left bank of the Ouachita River, and were scattered 
for a distance of about fifty miles above and below the 
Ouachita Post in what is now Union Parish. The popu- 
lation of this region was more heterogeneous than that 
of any other rural district in Louisiana. The earliest 
arrivals had been Canadian hunters. Later, Spaniards 
came in through Mexico and some Irish and Americans 
came by way of Natchez. The Irish and Americans were 
interested mainly in raising cattle, hogs, and horses, and 
had even introduced improved breeds. The French 
owned slaves and were raising cotton and corn. The 
Canadians, who were the most picturesque element of 
this population, were poor farmers but great hunters, 
and their nomadic life in the forests unfitted them for 
steady work. They were a profligate set, much addicted 
to gambling and drinking and always heavily in debt. 



276 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

After obtaining their supplies on credit, they would set 
out into the woods early in December, having pledged 
their quarry for their debts even before they had killed 
it.'* 

In this remote region a few establishments had al- 
ready been built which were fine enough to make the 
visitor forget that he was in the wilderness. In the 
vicinity of the Ouachita Post there was an especially in- 
teresting gentleman styling himself M. Badinsse, who 
was engaged in farming and in trading with the Indians. 
He lived in a well-furnished home, and was the proud 
owner of a library of choice works on poetry, botany, 
and medicine. The two latter subjects were studied for 
their utility, as M. Badinsse was the sole practitioner in 
the community and gave his services without charge. 
Robin was a guest in this home for several days and was 
entertained by some of his host's poetry, read by the lat- 
ter 's secretary, who is described as a monument of pa- 
tience. This farmer, trader, and poet also had an oppor- 
tunity to demonstrate to his guest his skill in extracting 
an aching tooth for one of his neighbors. Before taking 
his departure Robin learned with amazement that his 
host could neither read nor write and that he dictated 
his poems to his secretary, who also read to this eccen- 
tric man for his instruction and recreation from the books 
in his library.'^ It also transpired that the real name of 
the host was Badin, but that he had changed it to Ba- 
dinsse because he deemed this appellation more poetic. 

The effects of the French Revolution made them- 
selves felt even in this remote region. Hither came two 
emigrant nobles, the Marquis de Maison Rouge and the 
Baron de Bastrop. They had secured from the King of 
Spain grants of 30,000 acres and twelve square leagues, 
respectively, and had planned to bring to the Ouachita 

24 Robin, op. cit., II, 328 S. 

25 Ibid., II, 345-353. 



RURAL LIFE IN MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 277 

district a large number of settlers, who, like themselves, 
were not in sympathy with the revolutionary movements 
in Europe. The Marquis is said to have brought with 
him a numerous company, including such useful artisans 
as jewelers and clock makers, whose services in the wil- 
derness were not wholly indispensable. He also brought 
his carriage in separate parts by boat ; but there were no 
roads for the vehicle, its wheels never crushed the virgin 
earth, and it returned as it had come. Its owner and his 
company of satellites did likewise. The Baron de Bas- 
trop, a Hollander, seems to have been more practical. 
He had a plan for developing trade with the settlers and 
Indians and had established warehouses and employed 
agents and interpreters, but his enterprise also failed, 
largely, it is said, on account of his desire to accumulate 
riches too rapidly. It is likely that large concessions 
like these retarded rather than aided the settlement of 
the wilderness. 

At wide intervals along the Red and Ouachita rivers 
and along the shores of Lake Catahoula might be found 
at this time the lonely habitations of pioneers from the 
English-speaking communities to the north and east. 
They were the advance guard of the great army of Amer- 
ican settlers that was soon to sweep over this portion of 
Louisiana, and belonged to that type of immigrant who 
always runs ahead as others follow. It was said that the 
French in this section dreaded an Indian uprising and the 
coming of the Americans in about equal degree. The 
purchase of the province in 1803 threw open the gates for 
the tide of immigration from the States and ushered in 
a new social and political era. In the remote rural dis- 
tricts, however, the process of assimilation to American 
ideas, language, and customs has been slow, and even yet 
is incomplete. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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